Should I Buy NBR? NBR 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

69.780

1 Day change

4.32%

52 Week Range

70.610

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/05

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Not a good buy right now for an impatient entry: NBR is losing momentum short-term (MACD weakening) and has an earnings event on 2026-02-11 that can easily overwhelm the current setup.
Price is sitting near the pivot (~66.9) after a down day; near-term downside to S1 ~64.1 is plausible before the next cleaner long entry.
Options positioning is mixed (heavy put open interest but call-heavy daily flow), which doesn’t provide a clear “buy now” confirmation.

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals

AI Stock Picker: No signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Technical Analysis

Trend bias: Still constructive on a moving-average basis (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200), which supports the intermediate uptrend.
Momentum: MACD histogram -0.101 and negatively expanding → bearish momentum building short-term.
RSI(6) 53.7 → neutral (no oversold bounce signal).
Key levels: Pivot 66.924 is essentially current price (66.74). Resistance: 69.743 then 71.485. Support: 64.105 then 62.363.
Practical read: Uptrend structure is intact, but the tape is soft now; risk of a dip toward 64 before any push back toward ~70+.
Pattern-based odds (from similar candlesticks): modest edge near-term (+0.49% next week), stronger 1-month upside bias (+11.78%), but timing is not ideal ahead of earnings.

Options Data

Bearish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Positioning: Put open interest materially exceeds calls (OI PCR 2.11) → market is carrying notable downside hedges / cautious stance.
Flow today: Volume is call-dominant (put/call volume ratio 0.11; 37 calls vs 4 puts) → short-term trading interest leaned bullish.
Volatility: IV (30d) 61.23 vs historical vol 40.87 → options imply elevated move expectations into earnings; however IV rank/percentile are low (IV rank 5.45; IV percentile 10.76), suggesting IV is low relative to its own recent history.
Activity: Today’s volume (41) is far below recent averages (5d avg 410.8), so today’s flow signal is not very strong.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

and improved gross margin (+5.40% YoY), supporting an operational improvement narrative.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Earnings risk is imminent (2026-02-
with an EPS estimate shown as -3.60; this makes “buy now” less attractive for an impatient trader.

Financial Performance

Latest quarter provided: 2025/Q3.
Revenue: $818.19M, +11.80% YoY → solid top-line growth.
Gross margin: 20.29%, +5.40% YoY → margin expansion is a positive operational signal.
Net income: $257.28M, down -507.16% YoY; EPS: 16.85, down -345.63% YoY → reported profitability swung sharply vs prior year (suggests either tougher comps or non-recurring items in one/both periods; directionally this is a negative for headline quality).
Takeaway: Operations (revenue/margin) look better, but earnings volatility is high—important heading into the upcoming report.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend: price targets have been moving up overall into 2026 (Piper Sandler upgrade to Overweight with PT 65 from 32; Morgan Stanley raised PT to 80 and stays Overweight; Citi/Susquehanna raised PTs but stayed Neutral).
Current Street split (from provided notes):
- Bull case (pros): Morgan Stanley Overweight (PT 80) and Piper Sandler Overweight (PT 65) imply upside from operational leverage and a constructive view on the cycle.
- Bear/neutral case (cons): Barclays remains Underweight (PT 50) and multiple Neutrals (Citi 60, Susquehanna 64) reflect concerns about a plateauing cycle and uncertain oil/drilling backdrop.
Net: Wall Street tone is improving (targets up, one notable upgrade), but not universally bullish—still meaningful skepticism.

6 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast NBR stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for NBR is 61.67 USD with a low forecast of 50 USD and a high forecast of 66 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

2 Buy

3 Hold

1 Sell

Hold

Current: 66.890

Low

Averages

61.67

High

Current: 66.890

Low

Averages

61.67

High

Morgan Stanley

NULL

Overweight

maintain

$65 -> $80

AI Analysis

2026-01-21

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$65 -> $80

AI Analysis

2026-01-21

maintain

NULL

Overweight

Reason

Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on Nabors Industries to $80 from $65 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. Heading into Q4 results, the firm's forecasts are roughly in-line with consensus for its energy services and equipment coverage overall on Q4 and 2026 EBITDA estimates, the analyst tells investors in a preview for the group.

Susquehanna

Charles Minervino

Neutral

maintain

$56 -> $64

2026-01-07

Reason

Susquehanna

Charles Minervino

Price Target

$56 -> $64

2026-01-07

maintain

Neutral

Reason

Susquehanna analyst Charles Minervino raised the firm's price target on Nabors Industries to $64 from $56 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. With U.S. rig and frac spread count flattish from Q3 levels heading into Q4 earnings season for the oilfield services sector, U.S. drilling and completions activity "appears to have held in better than most were expecting," the analyst tells investors in a group preview.

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NBR Should I Buy

NBR Should I Buy

Should You Buy Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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